Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion
by greglindahl on Monday July 02, 2018 @06:34PM
(#17445947)
Segmented SRBs are used on Ariane 5 and Northrop Grumman's upcoming Omega rocket, while Vega, Vega-C, and Ariane 6 will use a single-segment SRB. It's a choice that was dictated by politics for the Shuttle, but it's also a choice that can be made for other reasons, like a smaller composite segment using a cheaper tool (Omega and the Boeing 787 fuselage tube).
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Re:The soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion
by TeMPOraL on Tuesday July 03, 2018 @02:21AM
(#17447979)
In general, "need to be segmented for transport" is not necessarily a political thing. Russians have the Proton rocket which looks as if it had boosters bolted to it, where in fact those are parts of the first stage. I heard recently that the reason for this design is precisely because if those side parts were internal, the rocket wouldn't fit on a railcar.